VICTOR JOECKS: The five-star schools where most kids fail math

Things are so bad in the Clark County School District that even some of its five-star schools have a majority of students who aren’t proficient in math. In two five-star schools, that number is under 30 percent.

Last month, the Nevada Department of Education released its latest star ratings. The results were dismal for the district. More than one-third of schools received a one-star rating. Eighty-four percent received a three-star rating or lower. Fewer than 8 percent of schools, just 26 in total, received a five-star rating.

This is a disaster, but it gets worse. A five-star rating should be the ultimate seal of approval. It signals to parents and policymakers that a school is doing everything right. The Nevada Department of Education even defines a five-star school as one demonstrating “superior academic performance.”

But that’s not what data from the Nevada Report Card shows.

East Career and Technical Academy received a five-star rating, but just 26.1 percent of its students are proficient in math. In English, it’s just 67.3 percent. The school is not alone. Veterans Tribute Career and Technical Academy is another five-star school. Its proficiency rates in math and English are 28.4 percent and 67.5 percent respectively.

Even in Nevada, a “superior” school shouldn’t have 70 percent of its students struggling with math.

A majority of the district’s five-star schools, 17 of 26, have math proficiency rates under 60 percent. Things are better in English. Mike O’Callaghan MS i3 Learn Academy and Estes M. McDoniel Elementary School are the only five-star schools with English proficiency rates under 60 percent.

But few schools have what traditionally is considered the highest level of achievement — 90 percent or more. Only five schools have English proficiency rates topping 90 percent. Three of them are the three high school campuses at the College of Southern Nevada.

If things are this bad at five-star campuses, what’s happening at schools rated three stars or lower? It’s beyond depressing. One hundred and eighty schools have English proficiency levels below 40 percent. In dozens of elementary schools, it’s under 25 percent.

Thirty-eight schools have math proficiency rates under 10 percent. That includes six high schools that are rated three stars. Read that again. Six high schools have math proficiency rates under 10 percent, yet each has a three-star rating.

The reason is the star rating system’s standards are incredibly lax. For one, schools have to score only in the low 80s out of 100 to receive five stars.

The academic measures are slack, especially for high schools where just 35 points out of 100 are based on proficiency and achievement. In elementary schools, 90 out of 100 points are based on academic measures. That’s appropriate, but this isn’t. If an elementary school’s combined proficiency rate is 60 percent or more, it receives full points in that category.

The district isn’t the only organization in Nevada inflating grades. The state Department of Education needs to revamp and strengthen these measurements. Nevada’s star rating system deserves zero stars.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.